The high-rise buildings are generally provided with various devices for evacuating the occupants of the high-rise buildings in case of fire. One of such devices is the descending device, which is often arranged at the comers of the buildings. The descending device comprises a rope to carry a person to safety in case of fire. The descending device is mounted at the corner of the building so as to prevent the rope of the device from being severed by the corner of the building when the device is in operation. It is very likely that the fire may break out in an area contiguous to the corner of the building to block the access to the descending device.
In addition, such a conventional emergency escape device as described above is defective in design in that the descending speed of the device can not be adjusted by a user, and that the descending motion can not be halted at will by the user.